Viatel Inc.

Last updated

Viatel Inc.
Industry Technology, telecommunications
Founder Martin Varsavsky (original US company), Colm Piercy (divested Irish business)
SuccessorViatel Technology Group
Headquarters
United States

Viatel Inc., founded in the United States in 1991, was a Nasdaq-quoted technology company which operated fiber optic networks in several countries, including in the United Kingdom during the mid-1990s. Viatel Technology Group, a Dublin-based technology company focused primarily on the Irish market, was founded from some of the elements of Viatel Inc. following acquisition by Digiweb in 2013.

Contents

History

Early years

Viatel was founded in 1991, in Colorado, by Martin Varsavsky. In 1994, it went public on the Nasdaq stock exchange. Four years later, Varsavsky sold his stake in the company for US$200 million and left the company. [1] In 1999, Viatel's market capitalization reached US$1.2 billion. [2] At that time, Viatel's second-largest outside shareholder was George Soros, while the largest outside stake was held by the global telecommunications company COMSAT. [3]

On 2 May 2001 Viatel Inc. and its all of its U.S. subsidies filed for relief under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in the state of Delaware. [4] In 2013 it was reported, in Süddeutsche Zeitung , that documents provided by Edward Snowden revealed that several telecom operators, including Viatel, had played a role in helping the British intelligence agency Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) to tap onto worldwide fiber-optic communications. [5]

Sale to Digiweb and divestment of Viatel Technology Group

Viatel logo, as used in the United Kingdom, as of 2015 Viatel-logo-large.jpg
Viatel logo, as used in the United Kingdom, as of 2015

The European arm of Viatel was purchased, in May 2013, by the Irish telecoms operator Digiweb, with at least some Viatel investors retaining interests in the new setup. [6] [7] In November 2015, it was announced that Zayo was in the process of buying Viatel's UK and mainland Europe network, leaving the Irish network to continue under the name of Viatel; This €98.8m transaction was completed on 31 December 2015. [8]

The remaining elements of Viatel, branded as the 'Viatel Technology Group', focused on the Irish and European markets, primarily providing business telecoms, cloud and cyber security services. [9] In 2018, Paul Rellis, formerly of Microsoft, was appointed as CEO of the Digiweb Group, with Digiweb and Viatel as the main operating branches. [10]

In 2020, Viatel Technology Group acquired Ripplecom and Irish Telecom Service. [11] [12] During 2021, the company acquired Skytel Networks and Nova Telecom. [13] This was followed, in 2022, by the acquisition of ActionPoint, [14] Wifibre, [15] and supportIT. [16] Sungard AS Ireland was acquired in May 2023. [17] By 2023, Viatel Technology Group had over 310 employees [18] with offices in Dublin, Dundalk and Limerick.[ citation needed ]

Viatel Technology Group was included, by Deloitte Ireland, on its 2022 list of "Ireland's Best Managed Companies". [19] In 2023, Viatel was named "Best Place to Work" at the Tech Excellence Awards, [20] and Managed ICT Company of the Year by the Chambers Ireland InBUSINESS Recognition Awards. [21]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telefónica</span> Spanish multinational telecommunications company

Telefónica, S.A. is a Spanish multinational telecommunications company with registered office and headquarters located in two different places, both in Madrid, Spain. It is one of the largest telephone operators and mobile network providers in the world. It provides fixed and mobile telephony, broadband, and subscription television, operating in Europe and the Americas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Proximus Group</span> Belgian telecommunication company

The Proximus Group is a provider of digital services and communication solutions operating in Belgium and international markets. In Belgium, the company offers its main products and services under the brands Proximus, Scarlet, and Mobile Vikings. The Group also operates in Luxembourg as Proximus Luxembourg SA, with the brandsTango and Telindus Luxembourg, and in the Netherlands as Telindus Netherlands. Internationally, activities are carried out by BICS and Telesign. Proximus Accelerators is the ecosystem of IT partners Be-Mobile, ClearMedia, Codit, Davinsi Labs, Proximus Spearit and Telindus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SoftBank Group</span> Japanese investment holding company

SoftBank Group Corp. is a Japanese multinational investment holding company headquartered in Minato, Tokyo which focuses on investment management. The group primarily invests in companies operating in technology that offer goods and services to customers in a multitude of markets and industries ranging from the internet to automation. With over $100 billion in capital at its onset, SoftBank's Vision Fund is the world's largest technology-focused venture capital fund. Fund investors included sovereign wealth funds from countries in the Middle East.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marconi Communications</span> Telecommunications technology company

Marconi Communications, the former telecommunications arm of Britain's General Electric Company plc (GEC), was founded in August 1998 through the amalgamation of GEC Plessey Telecommunications (GPT) with other GEC subsidiaries: Marconi SpA, GEC Hong Kong, and ATC South Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nasdaq, Inc.</span> American multinational financial services corporation

Nasdaq, Inc. is an American multinational financial services corporation that owns and operates three stock exchanges in the United States: the namesake Nasdaq stock exchange, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange, and the Boston Stock Exchange, and seven European stock exchanges: Nasdaq Copenhagen, Nasdaq Helsinki, Nasdaq Iceland, Nasdaq Riga, Nasdaq Stockholm, Nasdaq Tallinn, and Nasdaq Vilnius. It is headquartered in New York City, and its president and chief executive officer is Adena Friedman.

Level 3 Communications was an American multinational telecommunications and Internet service provider company headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado. It ultimately became a part of CenturyLink, where Level 3 President and CEO Jeff Storey was installed as Chief Operating Officer, becoming CEO of CenturyLink one year later in a prearranged succession plan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Altice Portugal</span> Portuguese telecommunication company

Altice Portugal S.A. is the largest telecommunications service provider in Portugal. Since June 2, 2015, the company has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Altice, a multinational cable and telecommunications company with a presence in France, Israel, Belgium, Luxembourg, Portugal, French West Indies/Indian Ocean Area, the Dominican Republic, and Switzerland. The assets in Portugal were sold to Altice in 2015 per request of Oi SA to reduce debt. The African assets were mostly sold for the same reason. Portugal Telecom, SGPS SA was split in separate companies: PT Portugal and Pharol, which owns a 27,5% stake in Oi.

Orange Business, the business services arm of Orange S.A., is a global integrator of communications, products, and services for multinational corporations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saudi Telecom Company</span> Saudi Arabian telecommunications company

Saudi Telecommunication Company (Group) (stylized as stc; Arabic: شركة الاتصالات السعودية) provides ICT services in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, across the Middle East and Europe. The group offers landline and fixed infrastructure, mobile and data services, and broadband & cloud computing services. stc Group also offers online payments, telecommunications, IOT, 5G, e-gaming, cybersecurity, digital entertainment, and fintech.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Interoute</span>

Interoute Communications Ltd was a privately held telecommunications company that operated large cloud service platforms in Europe. On 23 February 2018, Interoute was acquired by GTT Communications for $2.3bn (€1.9bn); and the acquisition closed on 31 May 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intercontinental Exchange</span> American exchange and clearing house company

Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (ICE) is an American multinational financial services company formed in 2000 that operates global financial exchanges and clearing houses and provides mortgage technology, data and listing services. Listed on the Fortune 500, S&P 500, and Russell 1000, the company owns exchanges for financial and commodity markets, and operates 12 regulated exchanges and marketplaces. This includes ICE futures exchanges in the United States, Canada, and Europe; the Liffe futures exchanges in Europe; the New York Stock Exchange; equity options exchanges; and OTC energy, credit, and equity markets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vocus Group</span> Australian telecommunications company

Vocus Group Limited, formerly known as Vocus Communications, is an international telecommunications company headquartered in North Sydney, Australia. Founded by James Spenceley as a wholesale, business, government and consumer telecommunications provider, Vocus owns and manages Australia's second largest intercapital fibre network. Vocus provides retail, wholesale and corporate telecommunications services across Australia and New Zealand. Vocus offers data network services such as Internet, dark fibre, IP WAN, unified communications and telephony and cloud services to mid, large and corporate businesses direct and also acts as a wholesaler. The company owns and operates 18 data centres across Australia and New Zealand and has an onshore network operations centre run by the engineers who built the network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martín Varsavsky</span> Argentine entrepreneur based in Spain (born 1960)

Martín Varsavsky Waisman-Diamond is an Argentine entrepreneur and philanthropist based in Spain who founded several companies worldwide, as well as serving as an early-stage investor in others. Currently, Varsavsky is Executive Chairman and Founder of Prelude Fertility and Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Overture Life.

Prysmian S.p.A. is an multinational company with headquarters in Milan, Italy, specialising in the production of electrical cable for use in the energy and telecom sectors and for optical fibres. Prysmian is present in North America with 23 plants, 48 in Europe, 13 in LATAM, 7 MEAT, 13 APAC.

360networks, Inc. was a Canadian-based wholesale telecommunications carrier. The company developed many long-haul fiber optic communications network routes throughout North America, many along railroad rights of way, consisting of both dark fiber and lit fiber. These long-haul routes included Chicago to New Orleans, Chicago to Denver, Chicago to Detroit, Chicago to New York, Seattle to Los Angeles, and Denver to San Francisco. In 2011, the company was acquired by Zayo Group.

VEON Ltd. is a Dutch-domiciled multinational telecommunication services company. It predominantly operates services in the regions of Asia, Africa and Europe. It is the 13th largest mobile network operator in the world by number of subscribers. The company operates in six markets including Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan, VEON announced the sale of its Russian operations on 24 November 2022. VEON's brands include Kyivstar, Jazz Pakistan, Banglalink and others.

MDNX was a private telecommunications company located in Bracknell and London. In December 2013 MDNX acquired the entire issued share capital of Easynet, a global provider of managed networking, hosting and cloud integration services, from LDC. The combined business went by the name of Easynet. Its CEO was Mark Thompson. The company was acquired by Interoute in September 2015.

Lightower Fiber Networks, founded in 2006, was a provider of telecommunications and IT services. It offered cloud computing, colocation hosting, and connectivity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">F2i Fondi Italiani per le Infrastrutture SGR</span>

Fondi Italiani per le Infrastrutture SGR S.p.A. or, in short form, F2i SGR S.p.A., is Italy's largest independent infrastructure fund manager, with assets under management of approximately €7 billion. It currently manages five funds and one infrastructure Debt Fund.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zayo Group</span> American communications company

Zayo Group Holdings, Inc., or Zayo Group, is a privately held company headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, U.S. with European headquarters in London, England. The company provides communications infrastructure services, including fiber and bandwidth connectivity, colocation and cloud infrastructure. Zayo's primary customer segments include wireless carriers, national carriers, ISPs, enterprises and government agencies. Zayo Group was built largely through acquisitions; it took over thirty companies from 2007 to 2014, including AboveNet and 360networks. The company completed an initial public offering of stock raising $600 million in 2014. In 2020, Zayo Group was taken private by global investment firms EQT AB and Digital Colony Partners in a deal valued at $14.3 billion.

References

  1. ↑ Brown, Eric. "The Connector". Forbes . Retrieved 4 August 2013. Martin Varsavsky has created three. In 1991 he launched Viatel, a pan-European telco that went public on the Nasdaq in 1994; he had put $230,000 into it, and he sold his stake later for $200 million. In 1998 he left Viatel to start Jazztel, a telecom network listed in Spain, and in the bubble his 20% stake was worth $1 billion.
  2. ↑ "Undervalued Viatel?". Bloomberg Businessweek . Archived from the original on 4 August 2013. Retrieved 4 August 2013. Viatel, a global provider of telecommunications services, has operations and assets in Europe much like those of KPNQwest. Yet Viatel's market cap is a mere $1.2 billion compared with KPNQwest's $19 billion
  3. ↑ Teitelbaum, Richard (17 February 1997). "Viatel A Cautionary Tale Wall Street Heavy Hitters Like George Soros Are Backing This Small, Shaky Telecom Outfit--But That Doesn't Mean You Should Too". CNN (Fortune magazine). Retrieved 4 August 2013.
  4. ↑ "Viatel seeks bankruptcy protection". The Guardian. 2 May 2001.
  5. ↑ John Goetz and Frederik Obermaier. "Snowden enthüllt Namen der spähenden Telekomfirmen". Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 2 August 2013. In den internen Papieren des GCHQ aus dem Jahr 2009 stehen sie nun aufgelistet: Verizon Business, Codename: Dacron, British Telecommunications (codenamed "Remedy"), Vodafone Cable ("Gerontic"), Global Crossing ("Pinnage"), Level 3 (codenamed "Little"), Viatel ("Vitreous") und Interoute ("Streetcar").
  6. ↑ "Digiweb Group acquires Viatel and VTLWaveNet". Capacity Magazine. Archived from the original on 10 August 2014.
  7. ↑ Kennedy, John (15 May 2013). "Digiweb merger with Viatel creates pan-European fibre player". Silicon Republic (technology news). Retrieved 13 June 2023. Digiweb has merged with Viatel, a London-based telecoms operator ... will connect 34 Western European cities over an 8,500km fibre network. ... combined workforce of 200 and annual revenues of US$78m ... Investors in Viatel, including Morgan Stanley, are rolling their investment in Viatel into Digiweb Group and are investing additional equity to fund the introduction of new services. Viatel has invested US$1.5bn in constructing a low-latency 8,500km fibre network connecting 34 European cities.
  8. ↑ "Zayo Closes Acquisition of Viatel in Europe | Zayo Group". Zayo Group. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  9. ↑ "Viatel acquires Sungard's Irish operations and data centres". 2 May 2023. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  10. ↑ Kitson, Niall (27 March 2018). "Former Microsoft Ireland head Paul Rellis named Digiweb Group CEO". TechCentral.ie. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  11. ↑ "Viatel forecasts €38m in revenues on back of Ripplecom acquisition". The Irish Times. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  12. ↑ "Viatel makes second acquisition with deal to buy Irish Telecom". The Irish Times. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  13. ↑ "Viatel snaps up Nova in its third acquisition in nine months". The Irish Times. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  14. ↑ "Viatel snaps up Limerick-based ActionPoint". The Irish Times. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  15. ↑ "Wicklow wifi company bought by Viatel". Independent.ie. 22 February 2022. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  16. ↑ Taggart, Emma (5 July 2022). "Viatel acquires Irish IT services provider SupportIT". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  17. ↑ O’Dea, Blathnaid (2 May 2023). "Viatel snaps up Sungard, continuing its major growth spree". Silicon Republic. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  18. ↑ Kennedy, John (24 May 2023). "Life isn't 'one size fits all' says Viatel | ThinkBusiness". Think Business. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
  19. ↑ "2022 winners | Ireland's Best Managed Companies". Deloitte Ireland. Archived from the original on 12 June 2023. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
  20. ↑ "Winners 2023". techawards.techcentral.ie. Retrieved 11 July 2024.
  21. ↑ "InBusiness Recognition Awards Winners 2023". InBUSINESS Ireland. Retrieved 27 June 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.